Kamila Kamnazarova

ON JUNE 28, 2016, KAZAKHSTAN CELEBRATED JOURNALIST’S DAY. SKY MAGAZINE HASN’T LEFT THIS EVENT UNNOTICED AND PREPARED AN INTERVIEW WITH OUR COLLEAGUE, A GENUINE PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST, KAMILA KAMNAZAROVA. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE KAZAKH TV CHANNEL, KAMILA IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF PRIORITY PASS TELEVISION PROGRAMME THAT CAME OUT IN 2015 TELLING ABOUT AVIATION IN KAZAKHSTAN. THIS PROGRAMME IS NOW CONSIDERED THE MOST INFORMATIVE TV PROGRAMME ABOUT AVIATION.

KAMILA, YOU HAVE MADE THE SERIES ABOUT AVIATION IN KAZAKHSTAN. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?
We wanted to show that Kazakhstan’s airports comply with all international standards and meet the obligatory safety requirements. After all, it has a direct influence on the investment and tourist attractiveness of the country.

WHICH ASPECTS OF AVIATION DID YOU WANT TO SHOW TO YOUR AUDIENCE?

Thousands of people fly all over the world everyday. Over a thousand of people are there on duty to make your flight safe. Who are those people? How does it all work? The purpose of the Priority Pass project was to tell and show how the airports of the country function. Our crew and audience had a chance to see iside the area usually opened for the authorized personnel only. We also learnt who helps to create the atmosphere of comfort and safety and who helps us to get to our destinaton point when we travel. First of all, we wanted the audience to learn more about the people responsible for flight safety.

DID YOU MANAGE TO MAKE THE PROGRAMME AND PRESENT THE INFORMATION IN THE WAY YOU WISHED?

Time wasn’t always our “ally”. First of all, what is aviation respected for? For accuracy and timeliness. They have every minute planned with precision. So, we couldn’t stage and we often had to film in online mode. Of course, not all the “secrets” were unveiled to us because safety is always the top priority. However, our goal wasn’t dramatizing or making an action show. What we aimed at was showing to the audience that those who work on the aircraft and behind the departure area are just ordinary people who love their job very much. The Priority Pass project is the series of eight programmes. Each programme is devoted to a certain service or department.

COMING INTO AVIATION, MANY PEOPLE NEVER WANT TO LEAVE IT AGAIN. WAS IT INTERESTING FOR YOU TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AVIATION?

Absolutely! Thanks to the Kazakh TV team we could learn that over 30 difference services are engaged in preparation of one aircraft. The work of the operating flight service that ensures information and reference support of the passengers is incredible. Everyday , over 50 000 people refer to the dispatchers of the airport who are invisible behind the information displays. All those schedules and figures arranged to provide the information for the customers is just one of the tasks of these specialists. They also collect the data from aircrews concerning the arriving flights. We also could see the maintenance service preparing an aircraft for the flight. Everything there functions as one single mechanism.

It was interesting to find out that smooth takeoff and soft landing do not depend only on the pilot’s skills and aircraft maintenance. The quality of the runways also plays an important role. It only seems to be just a track, which is the same everywhere and is of no special interest for passengers. Actually, it is different from airoport to airport. Runways can be long or not too long, wide or narrow, unusual or even extreme. For instance, we were told about one runway in the French Alps that is considered to be the 7th most dangerous runway in the world due to its location on the inclined surface. There is a runway in Gibraltar crossed by the largest motor road of a local city. Every time a plane is landing or taking off, the road has to be shut off.

Photo by Priority Pass project

It was interesting to learn about the Almaty airport where there are two runways and one of them can ensure landing even under the conditions of very poor visibility because it is equipped with everything required to have 3B ICAO category. It’s by the way the only runway of such category in the CIS. Many pilots dream of landing an aircraft exactly on this runway to confirm their qualification and get a corresponding license. In general we have learned many interesting things related to aviation that can be endless to talk about. To summarize I’ll say that many of us don’t even imagine, same as I didn’t use to imagine, that while we’re in the sky there isn’t a single moment when we stay without the attention of those ensuring our safe and calm flight.

WHILE MAKING THE PROGRAMME, HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING NEW ABOUT THE WORLD OF AVIATION THAT CAN MAKE ONE SAY SOMETHING LIKE “MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN”?

I’ve learned the most important thing: Air travel is the safest method of transportation. My fear of flying has started to go away…

THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN AVIATION FOR OUR MAGAZINE. WHICH AREA IS THE PRIORITY FOR YOUR JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITIES AT THE MOMENT?

I think I am very lucky to work with my colleagues and make the programmes that let the foreign audience know more about our country. I work for the Kazakh TV channel. It is the first national satellite channel of Kazakhstan broadcasting in over 100 countries of the world in Kazakh, Russian and English! It’s fascinating to create content that gives an opportunity to demonstrate to the world all the tourist and investment potential of the country and that helps people to learn more about interesting and extraordinary people from Kazakhstan as well as the traditions and history of the country. Currently the channel is broadcasting the programmess which, saying the least of it, show the diversity and unique character of Kazakhstan to the world.

WHAT DO JOURNALISM AND AVIATION HAVE IN COMMON?

I guess journalism and aviation have common goals, which shorten the distances and bring people together. Mass media, just like an aircraft or an airport, is the crossing point of time and space.